Like Bad Wallpaper
by drufan
Summary: Tag to Prodigal. Michael's first mistake was threatening her son.


_A/N: Tag to Prodigal. Michael made three mistakes. Threatening her son was just the first._

_Disclaimer: By me, they are not owned._

**Like Bad Wallpaper**

"_Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper."-- Friedrich Nietzsche_

Teyla watched as Michael became a speck falling away from her. _Your first mistake was threatening my son, _she thought. There was a time when she pitied him more than hated him. Her incarceration with him last year had changed her mind. _Your second was thinking I could ever want to be near you, again._

Teyla turned and looked at John. He gave a small nod and drunkenly stood up. Neither said anything. There was no need.

Her first and foremost priority throughout the crisis was the protection of her son, even if that meant death for all of Atlantis and her precious child. She never would have let Michael have him. Though, she had had faith it would not come to that.

Just like before, her faith in her team sustained her. She knew they were coming. In particular, she knew John would try and try and try. He had done it then. She knew he would do it now. However, no matter what, she would have never let Torren become the catalyst to Michael's insane plans.

Now, Michael would never harm anyone ever again.

She stared at John and the blood running down his cheek and bruises beginning to blossom on his face. She thought of Ronon fighting and yelling for her to run. She remembered Mr. Woolsey trying to lead her to safety, only to fall victim. All of them protected her child as if he were their own. She loved them all the more.

She considered the poor, misguided, vengeful creature Michael had become and wanted to spit at his crumpled remains. Almost. Not quite. Maybe.

The Atlaneans had started this when they created him, but she finished it tonight from up on high. He was literally at the pinnacle and such a height always created a devastating fall. She had kicked him like refuse off of her gleaming city and, more importantly, out of their lives.

With a flick of the toe of her boot, all of the millions dead had their justice. The tribunal from the coalition could learn the meaning of the word, along with vindication and revenge. She just had given a lesson.

John faltered for a brief moment and she immediately nestled herself under his arm to support him. "Must've been all of the stairs tonight." He gave a small half-laugh as he said it.

"I am sure that's it."

They walked a little farther in silence.

He broke it by asking, "Do you know about Ronon?"

Her stomach tightened. "What about him?" She almost did not want to know. Had the price of her victory come too high?

"Michael threw him off the balcony."

"He was protecting us."

"I know, we could see. We just couldn't talk."

They could see. They were watching and unable to help. That must have been maddening for everyone.

"Is he all right?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out shortly because I'm thinking you're taking me to the infirmary."

"Yes."

They limped a little more and then reached the stairwell.

"Where is Rodney?" she asked putting her hand on the rail and guiding him to the first step.

"He should be parking one of the Jumpers as we speak. He helped destroy Michael's Jumper along with Zelenka so we could get to the control room."

"To save Atlantis and stop Michael," she said as an aside, more or less talking to herself.

"To save you, Teyla. The moment Rodney and I saw you, we knew we had to get there. We weren't going to lose you again. Or Torren. Wasn't happening."

And that right there was a certainty-- a John Sheppard promise that was written like the Ancestors carvings on an ancient pillar. He would save Atlantis at any cost, but Michael's mistake had been to go after family. John Sheppard took family, his family, very seriously. He had proven that before-- her faith in her team justified by his very actions and words.

Between John's determination, Rodney's brains, and Ronon's heart, her team was nigh indestructible. Or so she liked to fantasize. The truth of it was that anyone of them gone would set things asunder. She did not know what would happen then…but she sort of did, didn't she? She knew about an alternate time where things went very, very wrong.

That sad timeline was not going to happen now.

Teyla took a deep breath and another step. _Your final mistake was violating my son._ Michael had violated her people, Kanaan, and herself. But taking genetic material to create his own version of her son was unforgivable and deserving of everything she just did, without regret or remorse.

However, she would dream of his final moments for awhile, because she was human and she had a conscience.

"He was stealing my son, John. He took…samples."

John stopped and they nearly lost their balance. He looked down at her. "It didn't happen. They didn't get away this time. He was a mistake like Ronon said. He was absolutely insane. I should've taken care of it before now. For that, I'm sorry."

"Yes, _**we **_should have. But now it is taken care of." She began the walk down the increasingly long flight of stairs again, pulling him with her. "Let's move forward."

"We will. We are. Together."

An oppressive weight was lifted from her shoulders this night. An unease that had settled and remained too long was now gone. She could not wait for Kanaan to return. He would join her in this quiet and private joy that the absence of weight had created. Some of Kanaan's private fears would be settled as well. Their son was now safe…

"Mr. Woolsey! He was trying to get us to safety. He was knocked unconscious by an energy field of some sort."

"I'm sure they'll find him, and if not, when we get to infirmary, we can let someone know."

"Or we could use the radios?" Teyla pressed the tiny apparatus in her ear and sent the message.

"Or you could do that."

She smiled, but only for a moment because everything that had happened tonight was going to hit her and then the smiles would be gone for a while.

She really needed Kanaan to come home sooner rather than later. She needed to retrieve her child from Amelia and hug him until he could stand no more. She needed a moment of quiet to just breathe.

"How much farther?" John asked, slightly out of breath.

"I don't know, but I've got you."

"I know. And Teyla, ditto."


End file.
